Saturday was the final judging of our garden for the PHS City Gardens contest. I had envisioned judges trooping in with tape measures and magnifying glasses, ready to quiz me on plants’ Latin names and fertilizer formulae. The three judges that eventually showed up at my gate had only notebooks and smiles, and were amazed to see a huge garden randomly springing up amid so many broken-teeth facades and criminally overgrown vacant lots. They couldn’t figure out how I kept my roses so free of powdery mildew and black spot (I pointed them towards neem oil) and were quite impressed with the bat house (still vacant—know any bats in need of a home?!). I figured that, this being the first year I entered the garden, there's no way we could take first. But after checking the contest winner list, I noticed that multiple people can place first. Although this seems unnecessarily generous (you're all winners!), it has raised my expectations. Keep checking that link.
Judging or no judging, this weekend was also time to feed my leafy green denizens. I’m redressing most of the containers with a mix of top soil, lots of mushroom compost, and vermiculite (thanks Gene & Laura!). Some of the fertilizers I had put down earlier in the season had bound to the mulch and caked up, so this was a good time to get everything remixed and retopped. Add to that a weekend of rain and I think I’m going to see a lot of growth this week. It’s never too late in the season for more growing!
The tomato yield has been sparse so far, but what has come off of the plants has been delicious. So far, the green zebras and lemon boys have been the perfect size for grilling—the skin just begins to get that brown crisp while the insides have turned to a soupy green goo that has no earthly substitute. Cherry peppers were also good grilled, although their heat makes them more of a novelty than a real food item. Next year, I need to grow some stick-to-the-ribs plants, like squash or eggplants or pork-on-a-vine. C'mon science—where are my genetically modified bacon-flavored tomatoes?